After experiencing pandemic enforced school at home you’d be forgiven for thinking those of us who choose to home educate are either bonkers or superhuman.
There’s a lot of evidence out there as to why self-directed education is a wonderful way for a young person to educate themselves, but what about the parents who facilitate it?
When I was asked about the impact on parents I didn’t have to think twice.
Before I home educated I was unhappy at work, unhappy with myself, and clinging to whatever security I could find. I didn’t know what to do with my life and was to afraid of failing to try anything new and daring. This is not to say there wasn’t joy in my life, but joy was not the default.
When my first daughter came along it gave me a better sense of perspective because my life was no longer all about me – although for a large part it still was. But when we decided to home educate although it seemed like a decision for our children, actually it was also a decision for ourselves.
🌱 We chose to give ourselves the freedom to take things at our own pace.
🌱 We chose to give ourselves breathing space to find what we loved out of what we thought we should love.
🌱 We chose to spend more time with each other to deepen our relationships with our children and ourselves.
🌱 We chose to HAVE less and BE more.
By not having the structure of school in our life home became this impossibly peaceful and safe haven for the whole family, and as I reflect on this now I can see how important this has been for my own spiritual growth.
Learnt obedience, being good, helplessness and having to compete and compare are behaviours school reinforced that made me, at times, desperately unhappy, lonely, and lost. But they can be unlearnt AND it doesn’t have to take a long time. Not having to play within a system that encourages these behaviours has really helped loosen the glue and give me a different perspective on that habitual thinking.
Home educating has completely changed my life and my approach to life.
I’m not saying I’m done by any means, in fact by my old standards I’d say I was a hot mess! But the more human I allow myself to be the less I care for standards, and the more I can embrace the times when my moods are all over the place and my actions are not saintly.
Briefly, home educating has helped me:
🌱 be a better parent to my girls
🌱 get a better understanding of human nature
🌱 understand the beliefs I internalised from school
🌱 understand how I have lived constricted by these beliefs
🌱 to be a better, more humane, more loving, more respectful, more joyful in the moment person
🌱 form better, deeper, richer relationships
🌱 inspired my own intrinsic motivation and love of learning
🌱 opened my eyes to how deeply colonial thinking is imbedded in society
🌱 realise what I think a suitable education for the future is
🌱 make friends with inspiring, diverse friends of different cultures and economic status
🌱 led me to explore living in other countries and other ways to earn a living that do not involve a daily grind or rat race attitude
🌱 created an ease, peace and wonder in life I’d only ever experience briefly before.
So I wonder, on reading this, if you’re out there considering whether home educating may be a good fit for your children, have you ever considered it might be an excellent fit for you?
If there’s anything on my list that really touches your heart get in touch! I currently have openings for new coaching clients and I would love to help you find out what’s on offer in your own lived adventure of life.
With love,
May Ling